Thursday, December 21, 2006

As painting my Alpha Legion list is looking good for a February completion date, I'm looking ahead to where I want the army to go. By switching to an Undivided list I lose the Alpha 'perks' - cheap infiltrate & cultist fodder - but can take, above all else, cult marines! Some cool modeling to be had, and looking forward to finally building the land raider (crusader, actually) that's been in my closet since two Xmases ago. The list:

Only thing needs to be bought for this list are the 1k Sons (converted Necron warriors) and Noise Marine backpacks, both of which are underway already. I'm also getting the bitz for a demon prince, and might splurge on some FW chaos land raider tracks for the big nasty demon tank. Exciting times, and really love the feel of this army.

Terrain was low hills in opposite corners, tall hills in the other opposite corners, and three patches of area terrain around the center, one low but the other two blocking LOS. Team Power Armor took the side closer to 2 of the 3 area terrain pieces, though the knowledge that 36 genestealers were going to scuttle towards my infiltrators meant my cultists cowered just out of our deployment zone and mostly in cover, rather than brashly pushing ahead (into enemy guns) as usual.

'Stealers rush forward, but Power Armor wins first turn! Templar transports rush forward, with the two rhinos on the left flank deploying their marines (champ accompanying one squad), apparently fully prepared to be 'stealer charged next turn. My speed lord plays it cagey, walking behind the advancing crusader. The cultists play it even cagey-er, actually backing away from the approaching rending claws. I also made a mistake here and didn't move my 20-assassin ikon out of the front of the unit, where it would have been safe from the 'stealer kill zone next turn ... Shooting wasn't entirely fantastic. My havoks rained krak down into the dark reapers, whose cover couldn't save 2 of them from the lo-tech rockets. 10-CSM squad autocannon accounted for a couple guardians from the BL squad, and the templar dread near them wounded a zoanthrope. The crusader bounced all of its shots off of fex #2, or failed to wound. All lascannons also failed to wound the carnifex / zoanthropes they hit, but plasma took two wounds off of a fex. Fire from rhinos & pistols dropped some 'stealers, reducing one squad to 2 and another to 3. So only 24 would hit next turn ...

Team Xenos' first turn doesn't involve a ton of movement, aside from genestealers closing the 12-13" gap to fresh meat. BL guardians get out of the 24" range of the Kai gun, Fuegan's ride scoots around a bit, the tyrant shuffled toward the crusader from her happy spot behind area terrain. The farseer also doomed the templar rhino squad without the champ in it, and maybe saved a perils of the warp attak for his second trick. Zoanthrope blasted the dread to bitz, fex #2 blew the assault cannons off of the crusader, starcannons killed a marine from the 8-CSM squad, fex #1 shook the Legion dread, more starcannons wounded the obliterator and another zoanthrope blasted a templar rhino. The reapers return fire at the havoks, killing 2 bolters, and the tyrant wounds 3 marines from the 10-CSM squad, all of which die as I fail their saves. 'Stealers fleeted, then charged in, though one squad in the center was short. 2+6 genestealers hit the champ-backed templar squad, killing a lot but being reduced to 2-3 bugs. 6 genestealers hit the doomed templar squad, again killing a lot but losing many in return. A mere 3 genestealers hit the 20 assassins, but the 'Nid kill zone only included 5 cultists, among them the champion and the ikon. Those 5 disappeared, leaving me just the scout's ikon to summon the girls down on, and the assassins bunched around the bugs.

Turn two, but things are admittedly not that grim for the Unholy Alliance. The Marshal and his terminator pals strike on the opposite tall hill, inviting fire from many many enemy units right next to them. One squad of girls comes in as well, within reach of either the unengaged 'stealers or some tasty Eldar guardians. After summoning the girls the scouts continue moving away from the 'stealers mid-table, but the speed lord tires of hiding and launched towards the avengers & guardians. The crusader also rumbles forward, the assault termies hoping out and preparing to engage the dire avengers. Following with the charge theme, the chaos dread flips out and charges toward the unegaged stealers in fron of him. Shooting, the '10' CSM squad barely kills the zoanthrope that blasted the dread last turn, the havoks do nothing to the dark reapers cowering behind cover, some guardians die to APC fire, and 3 lascannons, 1 plasma gun, 1 assault cannon, 1 cyclone launcher & a load of bolter rounds later manage to take the last 3 wounds off of 'fex #1. Fex #2 however just chuckled as the crusader does nothing to it for another round - though it was shaken, so no surprise.

In assault, the terminators did surpisingly little to the avengers - that damn defend skill! - and actually lost 2-3 to the exarch's dire sword. My lord decided to throw in with the girls and hit the guardians, though due to kill zone restrictions only 6 died. They ran and were caught, but this left the lord and his ladies high and dry facing a tyrant + her pups! I made a mistake and instead of consolidating my lord into the avenger combat I moved him between the tyrant and the girls, whose 1" massacre did nothing to save their pretty hides. The dread had his CCW torn off by the 'stealers, which made his 7 S10 power attaks into 5 S6 sad attaks, though one bug died anyway. The assassins managed to drag down 2 bugs, loosing a few of their own in the process. Also, the Templars did stuff to the 'stealers, but this Chaos General wasn't paying attention after the lapdogs' sad performance vs. the weakling avengers.

Xenos time! The farseer began by dooming the Marshal and friends. Fuegan & co. disembarked on the Marshal's hill and prepared for BBQ, and their ride swooped around the hill and pointed all of its weapons at the terminators. Nothing else really moved of note. In the torrent of fire that followed, the Marshal stood tall, despite losing all of his bodyguard and taking a wound from mind-waring with the farseer. The only shooting that was left involved the tyrant shooting the speed lord right in the face with her venom cannon - he took 1 wound - and a bunch of stuff not doing much to the crusader. Oh, reapers take down two more havoks as well. The Templar Marshal passed his test and assaulted Fuegan, and the resulting combat saw both commanders take a wound, while the aspect warriors stood and watched the IC battle. Elsewhere Templars finished off their genestealers, and the genestealers finished off the chaos dread. The lone 'stealer, surrounded by a dozen cultists, managed to not only not die but to win combat. Unsurprisingly, he caught and killed the whole lot of them, consolidating into the 8-CSM squad behind them. The tyrant & guards finished the speed lord, who at least managed a wound on the tyrant before going down. The hive wench consolidated into the daemonettes, who were already feeling the hurt. The terminators killed more avengers, but not the exarch, who killed 3 more of the big guys.

Turn Three: Revenge! Ish. The remains of the templar rhino squads moved up to do stuff, and the scouts ran away a little more, but otherwise everything else was staying still or locked in combat. The havoks again did nothing to the reapers mowing them down, and the '10' CSM autocannon killed yet more guardians from the BL squad, but didn't break the squad yet. The oblit, seeing the exposed rear armor on the wave serpeant, triumphantly missed with his lascannon, and the las/plas templar squad likewise did little to the vulnerable serpeant. The chaos über-rhino however was happy to oblige, downing it with a load of havok rockets to the rear. In the main combat event, the Marshal ignored all the aspect attaks, but neither he nor Fuegan could hurt each other. Other places, 2 templar killed a zoanthrope with a powerfist, and that lone genestealer died to a powerfist from the 8-CSM squad. The terminators finally killed the avenger exarch, and the 3 survivors readied to face off with the tyrant, carnifex, or both. Meanwhile the tyrant pounded all of the girls save 1, who wounded a guard and then popped back to the warp.

Interlude: What about the fire prism?? It lurked about the backfield and missed a whole bunch. Actually, remember those 3 marines that died to the hive tyrant? That was actually the fire prism's work with its first shot before missing for the next many turns.

Xenos Three! Not a fantastic amount of movement, mostly the fex #2 heading for the scout cultists, along with the dread-killing 'stealers (who got bogged in terrain). Farseer tried to mind war the obliterator, but he had nothing of that. The two templar who killed the zoanthrope were starcannoned, the havoks were reaper launchered, the scouts were barbed strangled and the remaining zoan missed. Back in the main event, Fuegan and his dragons failed to kill the Marshal again, and the Templar grimly pounded the phoenix lord back into undeath. The dragons ran and the Marshal could only consolidate after them. Other side of the table, the tyrant slammed into the terminators, killing a couple and letting her guard finish the job. Fex #2 hit the scouts and broke them, but couldn't catch.

Power Armor Four! Second bunch of girls summon down, ready to kill some carni, and the scouts leg it off the table, their mission complete. The 8-CSM squad mobilize for some reason and intend to bring the fight to the last zoan and then into the guardians beyond, and 5-6 templar run up to help out next turn. The CSM autocannon finally breaks the guardians off the table, the crusader continues to do not much, the oblit drops a couple guardians. The Marshal charges the dragons, who rally and receive a load of thunderhammer to the face. I think they held though. The girls hit the carnifex and kill it dead, making 252 points for all of those lost Chaos troops ... The CSM blow up the zoan with their powerfist, a 3" massacre stranding them between guardians' shuriken weapons and the last of the 'stealers.

Xenos Four and Beyond! Time to speed this up! The Marshal eventually kills all of the dragons, then heads back toward the few remaining Eldar, but be sniped out by the fire prism. The 8-CSM squad is riddled with starcannons and shurikens, killing all but the AC, who survives a mindwar only to be charged by the remaining stealers. He's torn apart long before swinging his fist. The las/plas templar squad breaks the last guardian squad off the table, and the farseer throws himself into combat with the 5-6 templars left. With doom & fortune, the Farseer manages over the next 4-5 combat phases to kill all but 2 of the marines, finally dying to the powerfist. The über-rhino & oblit scrag the remaining stealers, and the '10' CSM squad kills the reapers off. The tyrant destroys the crusader, then next turn smashes over its wreckage and assaults the last daemonettes, killing them to the loss of a guard.

Turn Eight+ saw the tyrant eventually die to the obliterator - after taking some damage from the '10' CSM squad before blasting them to death. Around turn 16 the Eldar player called it quits and parked the prism in front of all of our guns, and even then it was very hard to get through that Eldar 'roll 2 dice pick the lowest' gunk.

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Had the makings of a big game last Saturday with 6 generals planned to bash heads in a 3 vs 3 bloodbath, but things looked rocky from the start as everyone would be arriving at different times. Brilliantly, the Death Guard player suggested we stagger when armies arrive, with an army entering each side every turn, with deepstrike allowed and such. My Legionnaires started on table, and faced off against the most drunkenly unbalanced World Eater force ...

Alpha Legion & Death Guard & Eldar vs. World Eaters & Necrons & Black Templars [4850] - Only terrain that really mattered was a high building far right in my deployment zone and a massive, tall ruin sucking up about 1/4 of the board, situated left-center between the 2 zones. World Eaters placed 8 berzerkers center and 16 berzerkers to my far left, to run down the 6-8 inches between the ruin and the table edge. My havoks nestled atop the tall building, with the dread, obliterator, 8-CSM squad and über-rhino all arranged to the left of them to add fire to the 8 berzerkers. The assassins were set to be pushed into the 16 berzerkers on the flank, with the speed lord and 10 CSM (hunkered in ruins for now) providing support. The scouts were held back near my center to give the ladies some versatility in summoning later.

Legion goes first, and throws a lot of pain on the 8 berzkers, killing 5-6. The 16 berzerkers lost 1-2, with the 10 CSM moving up to get bolters into range next turn. Berzerkers both rage next turn, getting descent distance but no charge. Death Guard move on in turn 2, parking a mutated pred & defiler in the corner near the havok's roost, a speed lord & wolf retinue near my dread and spreading 4x 7 plague marines across the deployment zone. Defiler hammers the '16' berzerkers with indirect while the cultists, speed lord and 6 daemonettes converge for a combined charge on the nutters. The other 6 girls were gifted an unfortunate scatter, so just wandered into the large ruin for a bit. The 8-CSM squad (who actually began mounted up for a change) were feeling like doing something though, so rode forward and hopped out, double flaming the last berzerkers - I could have easily used the havoks or oblit or etc to do this, but knowing that Necrons were coming next turn I wanted those CSM out of their coffin ...

Combined charge went beautifully, with girls lowering the berzerkers' initiative so they were killed without even attaking back. Cultists massacred forward, with ladies and lord dispersing behind them ... because I realized that with the way the game we were playing worked, any new army could just walked on the table and rapid fire my assassins, girls and lord to bitz. I prepared for gauss death ... and didn't need to worry, as the Necrons deployed in one solid mass - lord w/ orb & veil, 2x 3 destroyers, 3x 6 immortals, ?x 10 warriors - in the far half of the enemy deployment zone. The monolith hovered forward toward dead center, and the World Eater terminators finally deepstruck! Nasty lord + 7 twin lightning claw, mutated, feeling no pain, spiky & master-crafted terminators (101 points each) dropped right in front of the nurgle speed lord and my dread.

Necron shooting started with a particle whip on my 8 CSM, which deviated to cover only 2, but snake-eyes to wound left my boys a little freaked out but no worse for the flashy lights. Gauss fire was focused on my dreadnought - stripped off his CCW and stunning him - and the DG pred, which lost it's twin las. Turn 3, Eldar walk on, bringing banshees, avengers, rangers, wraithguard, 2 wraithlords, a fire prism and a doom/fortune farseer onto our side. The wraith constructs trundled up behind the speed lord & dread, with the other xenos spread across the zone.

Movement was scarce, with cultists moving into the enemy deployment while lord & ladies hid in the edge of the giant ruin. The 8 CSM held firm so the lascannon could aim at the looming 'lith, though the rhino scooted away from the whip-bait marines. Nurgle generally lurched forward. Nearly all shooting was on the ginormous WE HQ, who had been doomed by the farseer. Lots of fire later, only 3 terminators had been killed, leading to general nervousness on my side. Meanwhile the 8-CSM lascannon didn't pen the 'lith, but the obliterator immobilized the glowy brick, bringing it floating to the ground. The havoks kraked a couple destroyers, and a few immortals fell over. The DG lord slammed into the spiky red terminators, with another 7 DG (along with fist) backing him up. Load of manreaper attaks later and all 4 remaining chosen were dead, with the lord out of base contact and so not targetable by fisty love. Consolidation happens, which was probably good given all the Necron gauss directly across the table.

Finally the Black Templars show up, amidst much nashing of teeth on my part. Assault cannon dread and land raider crusader filled with assault terminators appear mere inches in front of my cultists, and a couple rhinos and more terminators move on behind the monolith mid-zone. After some Necrons got up, they unleashed green hell on the havoks, eventually wiping them out. The pred also was given some gauss, losing another lascannon, and the monolith made the CSM pay by sniping out the lascannon marine, along with 5 other CSM. The flamer and champ gritted their teeth in fury. Back on the flank, loads of fire later and 2 cultists remained, who stubborned passed their test and readied krak for the dread's charge ... The champ actually survived being crushed, but missed with his grenade and was caught and killed. In the Main Event, the DG & WE lords wounded each other, with the powerfist ending it by killing the berzerker. The WE general blamed the DG player for the stupid list he made for him and then went home.

Turn four: no new armies, but mounting carnage all the same. My speed lord slammed into the crusader but missed with his melta bomb, so I sighed and prepared for 12 twin-bolters, 4 twin-assault cannons & 1 MM next turn. The girls charged the dread and only managed to shake it, the 1 return attak doing nothing. Elsewhere fire was mostly focused on the shooty templar terminators & master, wraithlord starcannons doing the worst of it. My dread woke up and started on some revenge, plasma cannoning another destroyer down. The obliterator was likewise determined, destroying the monolith (!!) and opening up firelanes into the templars as it faded out. Some other Necrons fell over, and then the DG speed lord hit a squad of immortals, blitzing them with 10 attaks and consolidating into a warrior squad.

No one was surprised when the lord veiled the warriors bach behind the pred and defiler in the heavy support corner of the board, leaving the DG lord facing a lot of gauss fire. He died. The crusader on the other side of the board let out its 7 terminators, pivoted and let loose on my own speed lord. He also died. The terminators charged the daemonettes harassing the dreadnought and killed them all with lightning claws, losing 2 thunderhammers to rending. Mid-table, a templar rhino zoomed forward and dumped out its occupants: load of marines with the Emperor's Chump. They rapid fired 7 of my scout cultists to little beastmen parts, though Dorga held things together. The veiled warriors also did something bad to the defiler - destroyed cannon? - but not too bad as it lived on.

With such a tasty target, turn five mostly involved Chaos & their Eldar friends hammering the templar & the damned Empy Champ. After throwing everything in range and LOS into the squad - including every las & shuriken pistol available - the Champ stood defiant, ready to roll his rage-forward Ld check. He passed and slammed into the 3 remaining cultists, with my CSM fist AC and flamer charging him in response. Some other shooting happened - my dread continued punishing the Necrons for not taking the plasma cannon, killing another destroyer, and my 10 CSM on the flank did a lot of nothing to the looming terminators - and the defiler shot & then stomped on the offending Necrons in its corner. In assault, the Champ exploded the cultists, and my AC charged up his fist and readied to end this thing; he missed with all 4 hit rolls, and I wasn't too surpised. Also, an understrength plague marine squad had engaged the terminator master, fisting him for only one wound due to adamantine mantle and then being thunderhammered. The master set out for the wraithlords ...

At this point the Legionnaires checked the clock and realized it was time for evac! I pulled what was left so that the unholy Templar & Necron Alliance could have a cleaner go at it. I hear tell that Death Guard & Eldar cleared the table in the next turns. Go (slightly more) evil team!

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Despite the lack of updates, the Anarchonquistadores have been busy in the last 2 months, though they did get a bit of rest so my Khorne demonbomb could bust heads in a few mega-battles and Ogres could perform rather lacklusterly in Fantasy ... Battles of note:

Undivided vs. Tau Empire [1000] - Having last faced Tau only with my demonbomb, I had my panties in a bind and was generally ready for whatever nasty raildeath came my way. Thankfully my opponent was new to his new 'dex and wanted to try things out, and just generally hadn't played 40k very often. Great guy and made for a fun shorter game, with Chaos coming out on top by a massacre - I lost only my extremely budget Speed Lt and kept everything else above half strength or untouched. Highlights were failing 5 of 5 3+ saves against a submunition round in the first shooting phase; the Speed Lt launching into his HQ squad and cutting down the Shas'el, then catching and killing the squad; the Speed Lt being rapid fired into mist by 13 Kroot 5" in front of him; havoks getting to use frag to smash apart a deepstriking drone squad. In depth report can be found here on Dakka.

The twin demolishers were giving me fits this time, and I set up outside of the 24" hemispheres of death in front of his tanks. Then I realized it was more like 30" with move-and-fire, cried a bunch first turn as he tore my 10-man down to 3, pinned my cultists with mortar fire and didn't do much with his demolishers. My first turn involved much grumbling, until I charged the Speed Lord into the fairly packed guard he had clustered in one quarter of the table. Started grinding away, pulling more squads in, including a squad of daemonettes and his HQ, and would eventually shut down much of his fire support later in the game.

Meanwhile my 20 assassins walked straight toward an infantry squad with JO and demolisher support, dying to a man without doing anything. However, I mounted up my 8-CSM squad in their über-rhino, peeled out toward the guard, popped smoke and said a prayer to the powers of chaos. A krak missile, lascannon and demolisher shot later, the rhino was only shaken! Dirge and his boys hopped out, flamed the guard and slammed in, whipping them in combat. The dread smashed into the front of demolisher #2, tearing it open with 7 blood raging attaks, and the oblit finally gutted demolisher #1. From here it became mop-up along his table edge and into his main corner. Win.

Paint Update: 10/10 CSM done, 8/8 CSM done, 6/6 daemonettes 1 done, 6/6 daemonettes 2 done, 1/1 Lord done, 5/6 Havoks done. I was shooting to get the army painted by my birthday early February, but with an oblit, a dread, a rhino & 30 cultists to go, I'll be totally happy if I just have 15-20 cultists left by then.